ESPN analysts skeptical of Clemson being ranked ahead of Michigan in initial College Football Playoff rankings

One of the bigger — yet certain to be resolved — ranking decisions made by the College Football Playoff selection committee on Tuesday in releasing their initial rankings was putting Clemson at No. 4 while slotting Michigan one spot behind at No. 5. The crew of ESPN analysts breaking it down on the CFP rankings release show weren’t so certain that was the right call.

Both teams are 8-0 and haven’t played schedules that anybody would consider overly intimidating with each squad not facing ranked competition until conference play. Kirk Herbstreit thinks it’s a message or a signal about strength of schedule and record, and that’s why Michigan — which played lowly UConn, Hawaii and Colorado State in the non-conference this year — suffered.

“Now I think all of us expected to see Clemson here,” Rece Davis said. “But instead it’s Michigan. Kirk, what’s your reaction to that?”

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Herbstreit gave his brief bit before going on to explain he thinks Michigan is playing better this year than in 2021, when the Wolverines made the College Football Playoff.

“Surprise, but you wonder if the non-conference hurt them when it came to separate Clemson and Michigan,” Herbstreit said. “Michigan, I think all of us who watch football and like to think we know about the game, we’ve been very impressed with Michigan. Losing [David] Ojabo and [Aidan] Hutchinson, losing their coordinators, replacing the quarterback who was returning in Cade McNamara, with J.J. McCarthy. And Rece, if anything, they’ve raised the bar from where they were a year ago. All this is for naught if they win out, they’re fine. But it’s just interesting to see what the committee thinks.”

Herbstreit gets to the ultimate point at the end: If Michigan wins out and beats Ohio State and wins another Big Ten title, being ranked No. 5 on Nov. 1 won’t mean anything as the Wolverines head to the CFP.

When Clemson was then, expectedly, revealed as the No. 4 team in the CFP rankings, fellow analyst Joey Galloway explained that he wasn’t very high on the Tigers, despite their unblemished record.

“Clemson, probably for the past two years, even though they won 10 games last season, they haven’t jumped off the screen at you when you watch them,” Galloway said. “You’re expecting to see an explosive offense that we’ve seen over the past years and we’ve not seen that yet. So I can see Clemson being a team that is like, if they win out, they’ll be fine. But they’re not jumping off the screen at me and making me think, ‘Wow, they’re a great team.'”

Analyst David Pollack concurred with Herbstreit and Galloway about the initial College Football Playoff rankings. He thinks Michigan’s offense has the pop that Galloway isn’t seeing with the Tigers.

“And that’s why I wonder why they’re at four ahead of Michigan when Michigan’s offense jumps off the screen,” Pollack said. “And the defense has been pretty dang dominant, too. Interesting.”